


Bound to Clay

by oatmeal_breakfast



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, I'll write what I write, I'm fully indulging myself, OFC physical appearance will be vaguely described, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oatmeal_breakfast/pseuds/oatmeal_breakfast
Summary: Hisirdoux Casperan didn’t mean to invoke a dark spirit into his life, but that’s just how it goes.Takes place several months after the events of 'Wizards.' With Nari's help, the new master wizard sought to gain an edge over the Arcane Order. Now he must deal with the ramifications of summoning a dark spirit and show a her what it means to be human, slice of life style.
Relationships: Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Original Character(s), Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my self-indulgent fanfiction. 
> 
> For you Douxie/(she/her)Reader fans, this OFC will have a name and be shorter than our favorite goth, but otherwise I intend to leave her physical description vague. More to come in the next chapter.
> 
> I don't know what I'm doing. Enjoy.

Hisirdoux Casperan didn’t mean to invoke a dark spirit into his life, but that’s just how it goes.

Many lifetimes ago, the young apprentice perched at the base of a stone tablet, lazily plucking at the lute in his lap. Gentle notes echoed through the misty ruins. He was charged to gather ingredients in the forest; pick some mushrooms, find a specifically shaped twig, say an incantation and scoop a bowl of pond water—dreadfully boring stuff. The master bade him not to dally, but it’s been a long afternoon and he was _resting_. He can’t be expected to work all the time, not when the acoustics were this sweet.

A shadow passed over him and he ceased his strumming. He stood at the ready, now aware he may not be alone. There was nothing but the quiet of the ruins, until he peered behind himself at his own shadow on the stone. The shadow was most certainly his, but something was not right—his shadow arms were flailing, urging him to go. It was a sight so peculiar he didn’t heed its warning until it was almost too late. The shadow vanished and he turned around to giant troll swinging down its axe. He dodged by the skin of his teeth and scurried out of there, instrument and satchel of ingredients in hand.

To Douxie’s surprise, the troll did not pursue him far. Casting a glance over his shoulder, they had stopped moving entirely. Decidedly not going to question it, the apprentice hurried home.

The next few days were, in a word, cursed. Merlin’s latest experiment kept yielding unexpected results. On top of that, items seemed to go missing and reappear in the most unlikely places, doors would open and slam shut, chairs would be stacked on top of tables, paintings spun upside-down, and the list goes on. Perhaps Douxie would have minded more, but his lute sounded too exquisitely out of this world for him to care.

One week after returning from the forest, Douxie walked into the library with a stack of books in hand, only to find his lute atop an altar, surrounded by bright green runes.

“I told you not to bring your noise into the forest, boy,” chided Merlin.

The apprentice quickly relieved himself of the books to a table, “Technically, master, you told me not to dally.”

“Your disobedience has invited a dark spirit into this house and it has wrought all manner of mischief.” In that moment, a dark shadow was torn from the lute and appeared to be twisting and struggling against Merlin’s magic binds. “Now help me banish it from this plane.”

“Master, please! It’s not evil. I think it… I think it saved my life in the forest. Please, there has to be another way.”

Exasperated with his handful of an apprentice, Merlin finally conceded and nodded to the table. “Blast it all, fetch me that trinket box. We will seal it.”

Still somewhat conflicted, Douxie obeyed his master’s wishes and helped seal the spirit away in a small metal box.

“Perhaps it’s for the best,” mused Merlin. “Banishing spirits is a nasty business. They are difficult to contain and study, but it could be useful having this in our pocket should we encounter more spirit magic. Store it in the safe, Hisirdoux, and for heaven’s sake, don’t open it.”


	2. Coconut Rice

“There is a soul among us,” Nari commented one day.

“Hm?” Douxie looked up, mouth full of veggie stir-fry. It had been three months since Camelot fell and he and Nari escaped to New York City. There was a long adjusting period; finding a place to live in the city meant being gainfully employed. Surprising no one, Douxie found two part-time jobs at a bookstore and a cafe. Nari didn’t have a job, she preferred to frolic in Central Park. Archie took care of the mice. With a little help from magic, they turned a rundown (but spacious) one-bedroom apartment into a comfortable home. Per Nari’s request, they were a (mostly) vegan household.

“It is faint, but I have felt another soul in our presence for some time now.”

He swallowed before speaking. “It’s a big city. Are you sure you’re not sensing the neighbors? Maybe a mouse?”

Nari set her coconut rice down on the table and disappeared into the bedroom. She reappeared a few moments later and handed Douxie a satchel. “In here,” she said.

Months prior, when he discovered Merlin’s bookstore had been destroyed, he salvaged what he could from the safe and stored the affects in this bag. He took the leather strap from Nari and reached inside; already having a hunch as to what she was sensing. After digging around for a moment, he produced a small metal trinket box.

Nari’s eyes went wide. “Yes, this is it. Why are you keeping a soul in a tiny box?”

“Well,” Douxie scratched the back of his head. “A dark spirit followed me home from the forest one day. Merlin sealed it away and told me never to release it; this is that spirit.”

“Oh,” her eyes looked a little sad.

“What is it?”

“It’s just…long ago, there used to be more spirits. Many lived in the Eternal Forest and I considered them all dear friends. Then one day, they all started going to sleep and never woke up. I tried everything I could to bring them back, but it is not my place to disturb their rest.” She picked her eyes up off the ground and turned them back to the trinket box. “This spirit; however, is awake.”

It didn’t take long for Douxie to anticipate what she wanted to suggest. “I know what you’re thinking and we can’t just let it out.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve seen it work before. It’s not evil, but it is a troublemaker. I can’t just let a dark spirit wreak havoc on New York City.”

“Spirits have a magic that is different from yours or mine. It could help us in our dealings with the Arcane Order.”

“That’s assuming it’s a very nice spirit who agrees to help us. How would I even talk to it? What’d keep it from just blowing out the window?”

“We give them a mouth.”

“How’s that?”

Nari paused a moment. “In the beginning, the gods molded the first humans out of clay. I don’t believe such a thing has ever been attempted by the likes of wizards and demi-gods before, but we could seal the spirit, instead, in a body made of clay. That way, you can talk to them with your human mouth and there will be no blowing out of windows.”

“That’s--” Douxie stop himself and considered what she was saying. “Huh. That could work.”


	3. Rebirth

After shocking a clerk at the craft store with the amount of clay they bought, Douxie and Nari returned home with all the ingredients for their experiment. He spent most of the day brushing up on his transmutation until they were ready to start setting up. They pushed the couch and the coffee table against the wall to give them more room and closed all the shades. Bit by bit, they molded the clay across the floor into the approximate shape of a human. The trinket box was set beside it.

Nari and Douxie stood on either side of the ritual site.

With a mutual nod, they both raised their hands and began the spell gestures in synch. A circle of blue and green runes appeared around them and began closing in on the trinket and the body of clay, both of which were rising off the ground. A wind materialized in the room, pushing around loose papers and other small items.

“Now, Nari,” he announced. “Open the box!”

The trinket box opened and the dark spirit sprang forward, only to be caught and ushered down into the clay by a dazzling display of lights. Douxie helped to seal it, but Nari’s magic would give it life. The body glowed as they slowly lowered it back to the ground.

For a moment, the two of them stared at the clay body in anticipation. It seemed the material had hardened, but not much else. Their entire experiment was theoretical to begin with, who’s to say it would even work? Just as Douxie began to doubt the whole operation, the clay began to crack and crumble, as if someone was in there trying to get out.

Douxie got down to his hands and knees and hurried to help peel away the hardened clay. A hand of flesh broke free, then the other, until their whole head and torso crunched forward. It was… a woman? Her breathing was panicked, her eyes were wide as they darted quickly between Douxie, Nari, and all around the room.

The girl looked down at her hands, which immediately went to pat down her unfamiliar body. She was gasping for air, clearly in shock. Before Douxie could stop her, she leapt forward, but her feet buckled and she landed against the couch.

“Whoa whoa, easy. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Spirit, this is your new form,” Nari informed, sounding thrilled.

With a wild expression, she looked at them and then back down at her hands. She wouldn’t stop screaming.


	4. Chapter 4

Somehow, they were able to calm her down and get her into a cotton robe.

This scene was much more placid. They were all around the kitchen table, a cup of tea was set before the spirit. Nari hovered over her, picking clay pieces out of her hair like a primate would groom a companion. The spirit stared at Douxie, unblinking.

Unsure how to confront the silence, Douxie offered, “You’re probably wondering what you’re doing here. I’m--”

“The boy from the forest,” the spirit observed, her voice even.

That's a relief, she talks. “Ah, yes that’s right. Hisirdoux Casperan or ‘Douxie’ as my friends call me. This is Nari of the Eternal Forest. We are preventing destruction of the world as we know it.”

“What did you do to me?” she whispered.

“We brought you here, like this, to talk to you. And we… I… would humbly ask for your forgiveness. It was wrong to seal you away all those years ago. I’m sorry for the harm it’s caused you.”

“Am I your prisoner still?”

“It’s not like that,” insisted Douxie. “If you want out of this body, Nari and I can arrange that. I may not have the right, but I ask you to consider staying like this to help us. Do you have a name?”

The spirit didn’t respond.

“What do we call you?”

“I have been called many things by humans. Shadow, terror, poltergeist, adumbration, penumbra—”

“What do you want to be called?”

“I don’t understand. Names are given, not chosen.”

“That’s not always the case,” pondered Douxie. “Penumbra didn’t sound too bad. What if we called you ‘Pen’? It’s better than poltergeist, anyway.”

“If it pleases you.”

“Right then, Pen. What do you say? Will you stay and help us?”

Penumbra looked down at the table, carefully considering this proposition. Finally, she asked, “Will you play your music?”

Douxie was taken aback a moment, but he was pleasantly surprised. He grinned, “That I most assuredly will.”


	5. Day One

It had been a long day of what felt like herding cats. In the wee hours of the morning, Douxie and Nari had invoked a dark spirit to help give them an edge over the Arcane Order. Instead of reviewing game plans and strategies, the following day was spent running around finding things for her to wear and covering the basics of Human 101.

“Okay!” Douxie clasped his hands, “I think it’s time for a movie break.”

“What are we breaking?” Pen asked.

“You’ll see, just have a seat and look at the screen.” He popped in a DVD of _Ferngully: The Last Rainforest_ and draped a throw blanket over a now seated Pen.

Nari gasped and declared, “Oh, oh! This one is my favorite.”

Once the two of them were settled in and the movie started, Douxie sprawled out on the other side of the couch. He dragged a hand over his tired face and exhaled deeply. Merlin, what’s he gotten himself into? There was a living, breathing human a few feet away from him that he was responsible for summoning into this world. Has such a thing ever been done before? While it’s likely she can help him and Nari with the Arcane Order, what was the true cost of this spell? From beyond the grave, he can feel his late master mightily disapproving of the whole situation. In truth, Douxie can understand why.

He glanced over at Pen, who was too engrossed in the film to notice. Her spirit may have been thousands of years old, but this was only her first day as a human. How did the experience compare? At least she seemed to be enjoying herself; that had to count for something.


	6. The Artifact

The movie ended and Douxie could see the spirit’s eyes growing heavy. It was getting late, perhaps it was time to settle in for the night. Fortunately, he had some extra toothbrushes for their new guest. After showing her how humans brush their teeth, he offered her the bed for the night. In truth, it was hardly a sacrifice; he hadn’t been sleeping much anyway these past few months.

“This is where you will sleep,” he said, smoothing out the pillow. “I will be in the living room if you need anything.”

Douxie turned to go, but he felt a tug on his sleeve.

He turned back to a concerned looking Pen.

“Pen, I promise you’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you, even from the next room. I’m a master wizard, you know.”

“What if I sleep too deeply and get lost in the dream lands?”

“That’s not... something humans have to worry about,” he assured her. Of all things, that’s what frightened her? Douxie didn’t even think the dream lands were a real thing.

She said nothing, but she didn’t seem convinced either.

“Tell you what, I’ll stay right here until you fall asleep. Then you’ll see there’s nothing in the ‘dream lands’ that can actually harm you or trap you or whatever.”

The spirit found this agreeable enough. She crawled into bed and rested on her side and Douxie sat on the covers beside her. With a wave of his hand, the lights shut off except for one small orb of a night light hovering over his shoulder. It was faint, but just bright enough to read the runed text of a book he pulled from the nightstand. He got through a few pages before glancing over at Pen, who was staring up at him.

“You have to close your eyes in order to sleep,” he informed her before turning a page.

“Will you still be here when I wake?”

“Yes, darling, I’ll be right here.”

Finally, she closed her eyes.

Late into the night, a shadow moved through the open bedroom window. A winged cat jumped onto the bed and set down an item he was carrying in his mouth. He was taken aback to see a strange girl sleeping beside his wizard familiar.

“Welcome back, Arch,” Douxie greeted quietly.

Amazed, he touched a paw to her form. “Is this the--?” he started.

“Hush, and yes.”

“Great heavens, Douxie. Merlin must be rolling in his grave.”

“As he’s wont to do. Did you get the artifact?”

“Of course, I did. Want to have a look?”

“In the morning, you should get some rest.”


End file.
